How to Play Bela Fleck Riffs

The goal of making your music sound like the music of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones is a tall order. This band, a leader in the mid-atlantic music scene, has been amazing crowds for years with a style that you can't quite put your finger on. Using traditional Appalachian methodology (elements of folk and blue-grass from the region), the Flecktones bring to life an unmistakable musical presence that can bring tears to your eyes. You may not ever be able to match Fleck's style, but paying attention to it and using it as an influence can make you a much stronger musician.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

1. Use interesting instrumentation. Flecktones songs use instruments like the banjo, mandolin, and fiddle to create a distinct sound. You also want some percussion (ideally a full drum set played by a professional, jazz-savvy drummer).
2. Get quick fingers. Your music won't stand a chance of sounding like Fleck unless you can develop an agility that makes the notes seem to flow out of the instrument. Experiment with chromatic and pentatonic scales until you are a pro at walking up and down the fretboard.
3. Go beyond the major key. Fleck's music is jazzy, not in the usual blaring tones of mainstream jazz, but in a deeper, more melancholy blend of jazz and rock/pop elements, so that while the music sounds like improv, it also seems to have a very solid melodic center. This balance is not easy to come by and will take a lot of hard work. Listen to the collection on Fleck's Live album set for stellar examples.
4. Put your instruments to a different kind of use. Fleck uses the banjo in a way that it is not commonly used, to evoke a whole different kind of ambiance, a mellow, full sound made by plucking the banjo strings to a serene melody instead of the usual jangling major chord progressions. Try to do this with your instruments, and your music may take on a similarly great tone.
5. Use repeating motifs. The note progressions in Fleck classics are obviously inspired by genius, as in the 'musical palindromes' found in 'UFO TOFU' or the very identifiable passages in songs like 'Sinister Minister'. In using specific note motifs, Fleck brings back the ancient practice of pre-modern composers and revives a grand musical tradition in the service of his particular jazz-rock combo.